If there’s one place in the world where gaming revenue plays a very important role, it’s Nevada, home of the Entertainment Capital of the World. Every month, the Nevada Gaming Control Board publishes a detailed overview of the revenue for the previous month, and it’s definitely a great way to get an insight into the overall state of affairs in the gaming industry in the state.
The month of October saw a slight dip in revenue — and that’s never a good thing. However, operators don’t seem to care too much, as they still manage to breach the $1 billion threshold. This mark means that they are still doing pretty good. This is actually the sixth time this year that they actually managed to surpass the $1 billion mark.
Nevada managed to make a state-wide casino gaming revenue of $1.02 billion during October. However impressive this number is, it still displays a sort of decline. To be precise, this October revenue was down by 3.8 percent compared to the same month last year. Moreover, October was also worse in terms of revenue compared to September.
However, the first four months of Nevada’s fiscal year actually display an improvement when compared to the same period last year, as the revenue is up by 2.5 percent, which is translated into $4.06 billion.
The place where the decline was the highest was actually in the heart of Nevada’s gaming industry — the Las Vegas strip. Casinos there reported a 5.1 percent decline, earning a total of $538.5 million. On the other hand, casinos that are located in downtown Las Vegas actually reported an increase of 7.1 percent, earning a total of $68.3 million.
Results By Game
Slots have been one of the most popular types of casino games in Nevada, and they managed to record a slight increase, which was up less than one percent. In other words, all slot games throughout Nevada managed to earn a total of $699.1 million.
On the other hand, table, counter and card games recorded a decline of 12.6 percent, earning $322.8 million. For some reason, the major table games were not popular in October and suffered a huge decline.
The game that recorded a significant decline was blackjack, which earned $92.3 million, which is 26.5 percent less in the year-on-year comparison. Baccarat also did not do well, as it recorded a decline of 25.6 percent, earning a total of $56.7 million.
Finally, roulette had the highest possible decline, as there was 30.3 percent less money. This game earned a total of $28.2 million in October.
However, not all of the games were less popular in October. Craps managed to remain relatively stable, with no changes recorded, earning $31.7 million. Poker tables recorded a huge increase of 25 percent, as the casinos earned a total of $10.8 million from this game.
Sports Betting Up
Sportsbooks also play a very important role in Nevada. It’s popularity bumped in October, with a 62.1 percent increase, earning a total of $47.9 million. However, the betting handle only increased 2.9 percent to $544 million.
The sportsbooks in New Jersey made it one step closer to Nevada, with revenue of $46.4 million and betting handle of $488 million. However, Nevada is still an undisputed king here.
The bump to books in Nevada was mainly made from the World Series and wagers placed on Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale. On the other hand, betting on basketball was not that great, as a 5.2 percent dip was reported.
